This is me outside the former US Embassy. It is a huge compound in the middle of Tehran. You can get arrested if you take photos of Government buildings, or police officers, and I wasn’t sure whether this could get me in trouble, so did the photo quickly. Probably didn’t help that through a timing error with the laundry the only shirt that was dry was my Martha’s Vineyard shirt, which might have people conclude I was from the US. I made sure I kept my passport with me at all times.

The walls are covered with anti-US artwork.

And the compulsory reference to the Great Satan.

The above is probably what most people view Iran as being about. In fact most Iranians are very warm and hospitable I found, and I enjoyed my stay here more than some of the other countries – partly because the taxi drivers do not rip you off, no touts, and the merchants are not overly aggressive (they encourage sales but not harrass you – even in the bazaars).

But there are some downsides, which now I am out of the country, I should cover:

The Internet is seriously filtered and almost as bad is dialup in most places. Kiwiblog is blocked for example (for politics). Amusingly Whale Oil/Gotcha is not. Cactus Kate is blocked (for sex). Many Iranians get around the filter through the use of proxies. They seem to be common knowledge and as they get blocked more new ones get circulated. They block almost anything relating to the old Shah, including some Wikipedia pages.

No external cellphone coverage. Local cellphones work, but not ones from outside. No phone calls or text messages.

No ATMs. Well they do have a few, but they only work with local cards for the bank they are located in. Combined that with almost no credit card facilities and you need a lot of cash. On the plus side you get 7,500 Rials to a NZ$ and a lot of things costs under 10,000 Rials

The dress code is strict. Unlike every other country to date, all women must wear a hajib – including tourists. And all men must wear trousers/jeans. I was even a bit nervous about having a t-shirt as only saw one other person with short sleeves in my whole stay, but I am told they are a bit more common in summer.

While most locals are not at all anti-Western, they are very anti-Israel (to be fair as is most of Middle East). I got asked over dinner which countries I had already visited on this trip, and I accidentally said Israel instead of Egypt, and they looked shocked. Of course if you have been to Israel, you are not allowed entry to Iran, so it may just have been that.

The normal Police were quite helpful and friendly, but I am told you want to avoid the religious militia.

Women have to travel on the back of the bus. Seriously. Even if you are married, men sit and stand in the front half, and women in the back half.

Foreigners are relatively rare. I understand only around 200 Kiwis a year go into Iran, and you do feel very much the stranger at times. I was lucky Paul speaks some Farsi, which helps.

The traffic in Tehran is terrible and their flights are often delayed, which makes internal travel challenging.

Again though, while I was a bit nervous at times, it was a very enjoyable experience. While I never heard any criticism of the Supreme Leader (and was careful not to offer any), many locals were happy to share their thoughts on the President (and generally very uncomplimentary).

Oh one amusing story. As you can imagine Iran can be a difficult posting for a diplomat if their partner is of the same sex as them. I got told that one Commonwealth country’s Ambassador (not NZ) had his partner officially registered as his butler to avoid any issues. All the expats knew they were a couple of course, and they went to functions together. One wit said to the partner, that he was the only Butler he knew, where it was spelt with two “t”s

If the Iranian Government stopped scaring people so much, I think Iran could become a great tourist destination. It’s a wonderful country, with a huge amount to see, and in many sense feels relatively “Western”. But I think it will be sometime away. If you are visiting the region though, I would advocate that you do try and get a visa and pay a visit – you will probably be pleasantly surprised by the experience. And the NZ Embassy is extremely friendly, professional and helpful.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under DPF.
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I havn’t been there yet my self, but my partner hitchhiked through a couple of years ago on her way to India. Her stories are every interesting about the place, she stayed in a couple of houses and said that in the house there dress was far more relaxed. She was also arrested fro not wearing a dress over her trousers, but that sounded more like a friendly policeman wanted to meat a foreigner and give them a better place than the gay park that had pitched there tent in and sent them on there way in the mourning after a night of security and hospitality. I’ve not been to many of the arabian nations yet but i will be doing a travel through that area in the next couple of years and will likely spend a month or so in every country and really have a good thorough tasting.

Looks like you’ve seen a lot in a short time DPF, perhaps slightly to short a time to take so much in, no doubt its all the time you have and you are pretty comited to staying mostly in one place most of the time…….but none the less you will of taken a lot in and should of chipped away a good part of that ignorance most untraveled kiwis seem to carry.

My travel philosophy.
“tourists know where they are going but not where the have been,
travelers know where they have been but not where they are going”
I am a traveler.

An interesting Iranian connection I know of comes from a elderly Polish immigrant friend here in NZ. She is one of the 700 Polish orphans that came to this country during WWII.

They’d been “interned” (a very euphemistic word for the horrors in which they lived and died) in the USSR after it’s invasion of Poland, but once the Nazi’s attacked the Soviets, the latter allowed most of these Polish refugees to move to the West. They did so via Iran.

However, it turns out that some did not make it all the way through Iran. This woman’s younger cousin met an Iranian guy and got married. They live there to this day and I was looking at photos of them just a couple of weeks ago. A Polish-Iranian family network is one of the more unusual ones. I don’t know how the Muslim-Catholic mix is going on but they keep their heads down for sure.

ALMOST makes up for all his whining about the Maoris and the Muslims etc, which only makes the anglophilia look like racism rather than fandom….

His general attitude to armed service (i.e., he didn’t do his country a service; rather, the country owes him, big time) makes me wonder if he will one day flip out and go a bit Pvt Pyle on someone’s arse…

Re photo ira9 (Statue with skull face)
Luc Hansen has some some graphic AP photos on his website that may provide some background to these anti-US / anti-israel sentiments… http://kbrmrebutted.blogspot.com/

However as always, when you’re criticising the wrong side it’s propaganda and probably lies too…

What interests me is what are those who set Ahmadinejad up as the great bogeyman are going to do when he retires at the end of his current term? Iran’s presidents are only permitted two consecutive five year terms, plus one non-consecutive term.

So who still wants Israel to bomb them for non-existent WMDs? Sound familiar.

The problem with Iran isn’t its people (most of the young are Westernised), as hugely spelt out in the recent protests which could have destabilised the regime enough to give us an upper hand in nuclear negotiations. No, it’s the batshit leadership and the Western fifth columnists who back them in the spirit of “anti-imperialism,” like Puke and radar.

I long for the day that Iran is brought back into the fold of civilised nations. That will require the decapitation of the mullahs.

mikh claimed, in response to Menace’s statement that “She was also arrested fro not wearing a dress over her trousers, but that sounded more like a friendly policeman wanted to meat a foreigner …” that “Our plods would never behave like that…”

Persia sounds a bit odd; mind you I am pleased to read they are very enlightened and do not stand any nonsense from females (that back of the bus lark sounds a splendid idea!); do they allow females to drive? (something I have always been opposed to)

Seems odd you cannot wear a nice suit when in Persia; I would hate wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

If you cant tell what the Iranian president meant when he said that Israel should be wiped from the map, then obviously NCEA failed you miserably.

For a start, he didn’t use any of those words – he was speaking Farsi. And it was mistranslated. And even if it wasn’t, the original claim was that Ahmadinejad was “threatening to nuke Israel” so constantly that if he would just “stop”, Iran’s tourism might improve. But it does seem like it was mistranslated, as has already been pointed out.

I’m seriously sorry that I have to keep reposting this list of Ahmadinejad’s threats for Ryan’s benefit. Ok – so he doesn’t “specifically” mention nukes

For good measure I’ll add the list of holocaust denials.

Threats against Israel

# “Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury.”

# “Remove Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations.”

# “The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land. As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map.”

# “If the West does not support Israel, this regime will be toppled. As it has lost its raison d’ tre, Israel will be annihilated.”

# “Israel is a tyrannical regime that will one day will be destroyed.”

# “Israel is a rotten, dried tree that will be annihilated in one storm.”

Holocuast denial

# “They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets.”

# “We ask the West to remove what they created sixty years ago and if they do not listen to our recommendations, then the Palestinian nation and other nations will eventually do this for them.”

# “The real Holocaust is what is happening in Palestine where the Zionists avail themselves of the fairy tale of Holocaust as blackmail and justification for killing children and women and making innocent people homeless.”

# “The West claims that more than six million Jews were killed in World War II and to compensate for that they established and support Israel. If it is true that the Jews were killed in Europe, why should Israel be established in the East, in Palestine?”

# “If you have burned the Jews, why don’t you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel. Our question is, if you have committed this huge crime, why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?”

I’m sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but if my memory serves me right, Iran is the only nation where the constitution guarantees Jewish people representation in their parliament (not including Israel).

ahmadinejad said that israel would’ be wiped off the map’. He didn’t specifically say that he, or iran, would do it. But he does genuinely believe that Israel is illegitimate, and a menace. And he has threatened that if Israel attacks Iran, Iran will fight back.

“Maybe tourism would pick up if they stopped threatening to nuke Israel”. – yep. And maybe Iran would stop threatening to nuke Israel if Israel quit threatening to nuke Iran…….

The West claims that more than six million Jews were killed in World War II and to compensate for that they established and support Israel. If it is true that the Jews were killed in Europe, why should Israel be established in the East, in Palestine?”

# “If you have burned the Jews, why don’t you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel. Our question is, if you have committed this huge crime, why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?”

the answer to both of these questions is because that’s where the Jews wanted a homeland. Or more specifically where they wanted their old homeland back.

I guess the Westerners (the Romans) bust up Israel and created the diaspora. The Westerners gave it back.

The Zionists chose the location for their national state, not the Westerners. I suppose you think the British should have sacrificed 30,000 or 40,000 British squaddies to keep Palestine free of Zionists. Or do you think your peacenik mates could have achieved this with some sing-ins?

The resettlement of Israel by Jews was well under way before the Nazis murdered 6 million Jews. A brigade of Israeli Jews, most of them fairly new settlers, fought as part of the British Army in World War 2.

By the by Lucy, are you comfortable with the fact that your mate Ahmadinejad is ethnically Jewish?

The remaining 2% [of the Iranian population] are non-Muslim religious minorities, including Bahá’ís, Mandeans, Hindus, Yezidis, Yarsanis, Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians. The latter three minority religions are officially recognized and protected, and have reserved seats in the Majlis (Parliament).

3. I don’t believe that you state a true representation of his views, or mine, but it’s irrelevant to my point.

The best answer you could have given is that while you understand why those questions would be asked by Arabs and other Middle Eastern and Muslim nations (Iran Is Persian, of course), and admit that the actions at the time (1930’s to 1948/67) of the then western powers are indefensible, events have moved on and it’s time for all sides to seek reconciliation, equality within the recognised international human rights framework and peaceful coexistence.

Look at the links below for the treatment of Christians and Baha’i in Iran. For example: Christian services are allowed only in Armenian and Assyrian, for ethnic minorities. They are banned in Farsi, the main language of Iran.

Maybe Luc would have preferred that they went to Madagascar.
*******************

It’s ironic that the one place European Jews did go to after centuries of persecution in Europe became the least safe place for them on the planet!

I have no objection to European Jews seeking refuge, but they needed to get the permission of the (then) current inhabitants. Instead, it’s fairly obvious that the idea was always to just drive the Palestinians out when a convenient moment arrived. Problem is, they haven’t gone far and I suspect they will be back.

Lucy Hansen’s extraction of “racism” from TimG’s 10.20pm post is really slick sleight of hand, even by Lucy’s standard.If it is indeed racist merely to call someone-else racist, as TimG does in his post, then by this standard you, Lucy, are heavily racist.

Lucy, you are one of those who, by constantly crying “racism” at every opportunity, weaken perceptions of actual racism’s vicious nastiness. For real racism in its full ugliness, consider the incident suffered by Grumpy’s family and outlined by Grumpy in another thread today.

Actually, the recent protests from young Iranians give me more hope for the country than I have for, say, Saudi Arabia. America should tone down its rhetoric, and just make it easier for Iranians to buy American goods. A healthy black market in Levis and DVDs will do more to effect lasting regime change than the marine corps

Rabbi David Rosen, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Department for Interreligious Affairs; International co-president of the World Council of Religions for Peace; and former president of the International Council of Christians and Jews. While in New Zealand he will be meeting with Interfaith leaders, government ministers and local body representatives. He’s on his way to the Parliament of World Religions in Australia later this month.

I struggle to find anything said by Rosen to disagree with (but there are couple of quibbles), although I will listen to it again when baby is asleep

Although he brushes over things quickly, such is the style of a radio interview, he is obviously a hugely experienced communicator and fitted a lot of information into the time allotted.

Unfortunately for posters above, he relays some of the exact same points I have often expressed here and been roundly and unjustifiably attacked for it. For example, that Jews were historically well treated in Islamic countries and the origins of anti-Semitism lie in early Christianity, which consciously invented the concept, not Arabs and Muslims.

But more importantly, while recognising the essential territorial nature of the conflict, he introduces religious interaction and reconciliation as a means of arriving at a settlement. Those interested in peace will find him uplifting. Others will no doubt accuse him of naivety, ignorance, even anti-Semitism (even though he is, obviously, a Jew) – the latter because he advocates joint ownership and communal sharing of all Jerusalem by both peoples races and all three faiths who claim spiritual attachment to the land.

Predictably, Luc hijacked this thread to sprout his hatred towards Israel, a place he has never been to.]

In response, the first mention of Israel in this post was @10.05am, and things went downhill from there, but my first comment was not until @2.38pm , and was on topic, Iran. And from whence is this notion that one has to go somewhere to be able to hold a view. I hold firm (very critical of the West and the Roman Catholic Church) views on the horrors of the Holocaust, 12,000,000, by the way, not 6,000,000 and I wasn’t even born then! Even journalists and historians don’t go back in time to write about their topics of interest. And as I am not religious in the least, I have not the slightest interest in visiting Israel.

Jack5, as usual, your posts spew distortions and vitriol. It’s hard to know where to start, other than you should examine the definition of racism. I fail to see how advocacy of equal rights, human and legal, equates to racism, but perhaps you can illuminate me. I won’t hold my breath for anything decipherable.

OK they’re a bit crazy (Amindaajinh or whatever his name is) but I can’t disagree with these points:

# “The West claims that more than six million Jews were killed in World War II and to compensate for that they established and support Israel. If it is true that the Jews were killed in Europe, why should Israel be established in the East, in Palestine?”

# “If you have burned the Jews, why don’t you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel. Our question is, if you have committed this huge crime, why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?”